6 U.S. troops killed, 3 Afghan cops wounded in Bagram suicide attack

The U.S.-led military in Afghanistan suffered one of its worst days in 2015 on Monday, as six U.S. service members were killed and three others were wounded when a motorcycle laden with explosive detonated near them in Parwan province in an apparent suicide attack.

A U.S. military official in Afghanistan confirmed the troops killed were all American. The incident occurred north of Kabul about 1:30 p.m. in a province best known for Bagram Airfield, a sprawling military complex from which the military flies F-16 fighter jets and other aircraft. While the U.S. military no longer carries out offensive operations in Afghanistan following the end of its formal combat mission, it patrols around the base daily to protect it against the Taliban and other enemy groups.

Three Afghan police officers also were wounded in the blast, an Afghan official said.

“We’re deeply saddened by this loss,” said Brig. Gen. Wilson Shoffner, the top military spokesman in Afghanistan. He added that Gen. John Campbell and the rest of the military coalition expressed “our heartfelt sympathies go out to the families and friends of those affected in this tragic incident, especially during this holiday season.”

The attack comes in the waning days of a year in which coalition casualties are down and the formal U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan has ended. But the country remains as dangerous as ever. To the extent possible, U.S. forces minimize travel by road to avoid improvised explosive devices, favoring helicopter travel instead.

But some service members do still work off the base, carrying out security patrols, route clearance and other missions. One unit doing so from Bagram Airfield is Task Force Buffalo, a U.S. Army-led unit that includes U.S. Marines and soldiers from the United States, the Czech Republic and the Republic of Georgia.

As of Dec. 18, 14 American troops and one civilian have died in Afghanistan while serving with the coalition this year, with five of them killed in combat, according to Pentagon statistics. An additional 68 were wounded in action. The others who died were killed in aircraft crashes and in a handful of incidents the military refers to as “non-hostile,” which usually refer to some sort of accident or a suicide.

By: Washington Post